While most hit movies are able to produce a sequel within two years of the original’s release, that wasn’t the story for Alice in Wonderland. Instead, it look six years for Alice Through The Looking Glass, and in that time actress Mia Wasikowska has gone on to star in some fascinating and excellent projects. In coming back to the role of Alice, however, director James Bobin did his part to literally throw her back into the part – specifically by having her first day on set be a sequence where she is falling into Underland.
Earlier this month, I had the pleasant opportunity to sit down with Mia Wasikowska at the Alice Through The Looking Glass press day in London, England, and while we touched on many aspects of her return to the part, one of the funniest bits of trivia she revealed was how the production schedule made her first day on set wonderfully metaphorical. I asked her about how she found herself pulled back into the role of Alice, and while she told me that she didn’t actually revisit Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (saying that the whole experience was vivid enough in memory that she didn’t need to), one thing that helped was a stunt-filled first day with the cameras rolling. Said Wasikowska,
Literally, the first day was a shot of me falling back into [Underland], from the door. So it was literally right in there, first shot. Me midair, yeah, I remember that very distinctly!
It’s not hard to imagine a better way for an actor to return to a part they haven’t played in years. Surely there was a good amount of pre-production time to prepare for her performance, and the fact that Alice Through The Looking Glass had a five-month filming schedule means that Mia Wasikowska certainly had a good amount of time to find her Alice groove again, but just the metaphorical experience of spending the first day actually leaping into Underland must have made the reprisal that much easier.
You can watch Mia Wasikowska talk about her eventful first day falling into Underland on the set of Alice Through The Looking Glass in the video below!
You can see the results of Mia Wasikowska’s work now, as Alice Through The Looking Glass arrived in theaters this past Friday.
